Nov. 14, 2011

Merle Haggard / Provided to the Reno Gazette-Journal

Written by

Staff and wire reports

Merle Haggard

"Working in Tennessee"

Vanguard

3 1/2 out of 4 stars

While figuring out what to say about this album, I realized that the debate in my head was proceeding as if this wasn't merely the latest release by a country legend but was a significant work by a major artist still in his prime.

Haggard returns to many of his touchstones (truck driving, the fate of people at the lower end of the economic scale, how everything used to be better) and, like the best rappers, gives a feel for his life (what it's like to have your heart broken as an old man and how he hates chem trails in a clear blue sky).

He does a duet on his classic "Working Man Blues," and it's nice to hear Willie Nelson sing the verse about getting a little high on weekends. The duet with wife Theresa on "Jackson" is even better.

The only misstep to my ears (and heart) is on his cover of "Cocaine Blues," a song that always veers close to celebrating violence toward women and comes even closer in Haggard's light-hearted approach.

Download: "Too Much Boogie Woogie," "What I Hate," "Under the Bridge"

-- Mark Robison, Reno Gazette-Journal

Reno Gazette-Journal

Susan Boyle

"Someone to Watch Over Me"

Syco Music

2 stars

Boyle's tremulous, slightly husky voice may not be without character, but her collaborators remain intent on milking her most earnest, least imaginative instincts.

There are a few signs of life amid the predictable succession of overdone ballads -- among them a willfully creepy cover of Depeche Mode's "Enjoy The Silence" -- but the overall effect is more numbing than soothing.

Steve Mac's production, by turns bombastic and gauzy, does Boyle no favors.

Download: "Mad World," "This Will Be the Year"

-- Elysa Gardner, USA Today

Star F---ing Hipsters

"From the Dumpster to the Grave"

Fat Wreck Chords

4 stars

Epic. The New York band aims for grandeur: the songs are big in ideas and sound, with anthemic touches everywhere but never in a pandering arena-rock way. It plays a kind of Crimethinc-esque, collectivist punk rock, meaning it's raging against the machine lyric-wise with male and female vocals and is all over the map style-wise, from thrash metal to skanking ska to a brilliant cover of They Might Be Giants' "Ana Ng" to a political anthem with the help of rapper Boots Riley.

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What makes this one rise above similar albums is that, underpinning the hip sound, it's got songs and hooks and parts you can shout along to. More proof that the T-shirt saying "Punk isn't dead, it just sucks now" is only worn by people who aren't looking very hard.

Download: "The Broken Branches," "Ana Ng," "9/11 'til Infinity"

-- Mark Robison, RGJ

Lou Reed and Metallica

"Lulu"

Warner Bros., Vertigo

1 star

And the winner in the category of All-Time Disappointing Collaboration Between Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees: This tedious, tuneless turkey -- by a mile -- over McCartney/Wonder's "Ebony and Ivory" (sorry, too much melody) and Bowie/Jagger's "Dancing in the Street" (sorry, done for charity).

Kids, next time your rock heroes tell you they're working on a set of very long songs inspired by a German expressionist playwright, petition their record company for an intervention.

Download: Nothing

-- Jerry Shriver, USA Today

Etta James

"The Dreamer"

Verve

3 stars

After a career of more than 50 years, an ailing Etta James says she's hanging up the mike. But this final album -- a batch mostly of vintage R&B classics, recorded in 2008 -- is a raw, emotional reminder of why she endured for so long. She puts her soul stamp on everything from the simmering "Cigarettes & Coffee" (Otis Redding) to the hard-rocking "Welcome to the Jungle" (Guns N' Roses). The works of Ray Charles, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Johnny "Guitar" Watson and others get similar treatment, assuring that James won't bow out quietly.